New Delhi: The threat of poison is no more restricted to Bushra Bibi and Imran Khan. It has reached the highest courts of Pakistan with thirteen judges, including the Chief Justice of the country, receiving letters allegedly laced with anthrax.
At least eight judges from Islamabad High Court and four from the Lahore High Court have received such letters. Four letters were also sent to the Chief Justice of Pakistan. The revelation comes two days after former PM Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi alleged that attempts were made to poison her using Harpic toilet cleaner.
When the letters were delivered to the Islamabad HC on Tuesday, the police deputed to the high court registered a case under the Anti-Terrorism Act. A separate FIR regarding the letters sent to the apex court was registered at the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) police station on the complaint of Mohammad Iqbal Khan, the in-charge of the SC’s Receipt and Issue Department.
The complaintant alleges that the letters were sent to the Chief Justice of Pakistan by Gulshan Khatun and Sajjad Hussain from unknown addresses. They were received on 29 or 30 March.
According to news reports, the FIR stated that the letters attacked the legal system and mentioned the Tehreek-i-Namoos Pakistan, a new militant group. It also included a “particular photo and the English word Bacillus Anthracis”. There are no reports of what this photo is, but the word is the scientific name of anthrax.
“The letters sent by an unknown group threatened the judges of the Supreme Court for ‘rescuing evil’,” Dawn reported.
Following the incident, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared Thursday that the government will look into letters, Arab News reported.
The incident found mention during the ongoing court proceedings of former prime minister Imran Khan and Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the Cipher case. Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Aamer Farooq, who was hearing the case, summoned the Islamabad police regarding the letters. The officers said a committee had been formed to investigate the mater.
Also read: Imran Khan hints army tried to poison Bushra with Harpic. Pakistanis ask red or blue bottle?
Judiciary’s independence
The ‘poisonous letters’ were received a fortnight after six of the eight judges on the Islamabad High Court wrote a letter on 25 March to the Supreme Judicial Council alleging that there had been attempts to intimidate judges by kidnapping and torturing their relatives and by secretly monitoring them in their homes.
The letter listed seven alleged instances of interference and intimidation by the intelligence officials “to influence the outcome of cases of interest.” It also pointed out that two of the three judges sitting on the bench hearing the plea to disqualify PTI leader Imran Khan felt pressured by “operatives of the ISI” through friends and family.
According to the letter, things got so bad that one of the judges had to be hospitalised for high blood pressure. It also mentioned how armed individuals posing as ISI agents kidnapped the brother-in-law of an Islamabad HC judge.
A day later, CJP Qazi Faez Isa called a full court meeting of the SC judges in response to appeals from multiple quarters for an investigation into the case. The CJP assured he would thwart any attack on the independence of the judiciary by intelligence agencies.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)